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Former finance director sentenced

NZN 22/06/2016Paul McBeth

Mark Turnock, former company director of SPG Investment Company No 1 (SPGI), has been sentenced to home detention and community work for making false statements in the company's financial accounts.

Last September Turnock pleaded guilty to charges laid by the Financial Markets Authority under the Financial Reporting Act after signing off on accounts stating there hadn't been any related party transactions in 2008 and 2009 when in fact there had been.

In the High Court in Auckland on Wednesday he was sentenced to four months' home detention and 200 hours of community work, the FMA said in a statement.

Fellow SPGI director Andrew Robinson had earlier pleaded guilty to providing broking services without being registered, making a false statement in applying to become an authorised financial adviser and making false statements in the SPGI accounts. Robinson was jailed last year over a $2.7 million fraud related to the wider Strategic Planning Group.

"The false statements resulted in investors being misled about the company's financial position," FMA head of enforcement Paul O'Neil said. "By their guilty pleas, the directors have accepted responsibility for failing to fulfil their disclosure obligations to investors."

Turnock has also been banned from being a promoter, director, or having any role in the management of a New Zealand-based company for five years from the date of his conviction.